With such functions as camera and camcorder implemented on portable phones, PDA's, and portable computers, the swivel hinge is being extensively used, which allows display on a wide screen by rotating the folder and fitting it to the main body. In particular, with the wide-spread use of DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting), the need to fit the folder to the main body for long hours is increasing. Also, the addition of multimedia functions has caused a demand for keys that can perform various complicated functions, which creates a burden on the design stage of implementing extra keys.
FIGS. 1 and 2 are a perspective view of a portable terminal having a conventional eccentric swivel hinge and a perspective view illustrating the state wherein the folder is rotated and fitted to the main body.
For the portable terminal having a swivel hinge shown in FIGS. 1-2, the folder 1 is asymmetrically rotated by a swivel hinge 6 formed eccentrically to the central axis X and is attached to the main body 3. Thus, as shown in FIG. 2, a portion of the keys 4 on the main body 3 is exposed to the exterior. Extra functions are assigned to the exposed keys 4 when the folder 1 is fitted to the main body 3. For example, when the folder 1 has not rotated, they may be used as dial or alphanumeric keys, whereas when the folder 1 rotates to expose the interior display screen 2 to the exterior as shown in FIG. 2, the exposed keys 4 act as keys that perform multimedia functions such as camera, camcorder, MP3 player, or DMB, etc.